Cable Technology Feature Article

Audible Magic Making Magic at The Cable Show 2012

At this year’s The Cable Show held in Boston, Audible Magic (News - Alert) showed how they are literally transforming the traditional family household by incorporating the modern idea of instantaneously engaging with multiple items and sharing them. The goal, explained by Jeff Vinson from Audible Magic Market Development, is to “have a household connected with all of the different devices together.” The good news is that their audible content recognition (ACR) can do just that.

Audible Magic’s ACR, or what Vinson describes as, “the thread that connects the second screen to the primary screen,” offers a list of exciting and interactive features for its user. For example, it contains a digital audio fingerprint, which identifies what show a viewer is watching as well as additional content, including cast and crew information and even offering coupons to purchase items based on a customer’s viewing patterns and preferences.

Among the products presented by the company was their Live TV demonstration, which monitors 90 networks across the U.S. and six networks in the UK to provide immediate recognition of what TV show is being watched. For example, on an iPod of which they had an app running, Vinson simply touched a syncing button and the device was able to listen to the audio and identify the particular show and additional cast and crew information, despite the surrounding level of the volume at the show.

What seems like the most interesting feature of this innovation is the fact that ACR provides customers with the opportunity to customize their experience by replacing ads with others that interest them more. It even enables users to go back and check out advertisements that they missed. This is pretty big, considering how badly we all hate to sit through the same commercials continuously which we know will never interest us.

Audible Magic makes it possible to look through a comprehensive and unique list of things happening while the show is playing, all related to that particular show. For example, while watching the Dick Van Dyke Show, you can simultaneously go and purchase Mary Tyler Moore’s little black dress she’s wearing in the episode, if you desire, via simultaneously shopping online.

Even better, Audible Magic has some other tricks up its sleeve to address the pervasive nature of social media in technology today. For all of you social media junkies, you can also integrate Facebook (News - Alert) into your TV watching experience by “liking” what you’re watching when you’re watching it.

Could working this solution become distracting, though? It depends on the new and advanced household of today’s generation, Vinson explains, where individuals tend to watch different programs on multiple sets throughout one household. It may initially seem distracting, but it ultimately grants more autonomy for the viewer, who is granted complete control over all viewing aspects – proving for a truly incomparable experience.